The top three countries were Finland, Norway and Uruguay. Among the poorest performers were Haiti, Taiwan and Iraq, with North Korea ranking last on the list.
The ESI ranks countries on 21 elements of environmental sustainability covering natural resource endowments, past and present pollution levels, environmental management efforts, contributions to protection of the global commons, and a society’s capacity to improve its environmental performance over time.
The U.S. ranking reflects high performance on water quality and environmental protection capacity. The ranking was brought down, however, by poor performance on waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions.
Researchers at Yale and Columbia Universities prepared the report in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.
